Minneapolis seeks community input for police chief search

The seek for a brand new Minneapolis police chief continues, as members of a search committee held their second group listening session on Thursday, April 21 in Elliot Park’s group constructing. 

In keeping with the Metropolis’s web site, “The group suggestions, steerage, and perspective acquired throughout these classes can be an integral piece within the creation of the place profile and can inform the complete search course of for the brand new police chief.”

Metropolis Councilmember LaTrisha Vetaw, who moderated the session, stated the group enter will result in selecting a greater candidate than if the search committee had chosen a candidate on their very own. She referenced her time serving as director of well being coverage and advocacy at NorthPoint Well being & Wellness, saying she requested for group enter on each choice she made in that position, and that it will have felt flawed to not do the identical whereas engaged on the police chief search committee.

“What we’re going to be asking you about is what {qualifications} are most vital in choosing the chief, what must be the best priorities of the subsequent chief of police, and what management qualities are most vital when choosing the subsequent chief,” Vetaw stated.

Liban Hassan, a resident of the Armatage neighborhood, stated he believed that group listening conferences are crucial for selecting the perfect police chief to handle points inside the division. He referred to racial disparities between Black and White residents in police stops and the criticism towards the Minneapolis Police Division after the 2020 killing of George Floyd and the killing of Amir Locke in February of this 12 months.

“[Police] coaching must be very particular,” Hassan stated. “We have to have cops that aren’t solely sincere and clear, however ones that truly know methods to do their jobs correctly, and never rent those which have been fired from one other division.”

He added, “We’d like sturdy background checks, sturdy racial fairness coaching, as a result of clearly crime is the difficulty, however racial profiling points is a giant situation itself.” 

Vetaw stated the enter gathered from these conferences can be utilized by the search committee in partnership with Public Sector Search & Consulting Inc. (PSSC), the manager search agency employed by the Metropolis to create a job description for the position. 

This job description will in flip inform what qualities PSSC can be searching for in a candidate for the Minneapolis police chief. PSSC will then ship a listing of finalists to Mayor Jacob Frey, who will ship his option to town council for approval. 

The brand new chief of police will take over for Amelia Huffman, who was named interim police chief in January after Medaria Arradondo, town’s first Black chief of police, stepped down.

Three extra group classes will happen:

• Monday, April 25, 6-7:30 pm at Powderhorn Park constructing, 3400 fifteenth Ave. S.
• Wednesday, April 27 from 6-7:30 pm at Logan Park constructing, 690 thirteenth Ave. N.E.
• Tuesday, Might 3 from 6-7:30 pm at Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Park constructing, 4055 Nicollet Ave.

Neighborhood feedback relating to the collection of a brand new police chief may also be submitted on to the police chief search committee by filling out a survey at bit.ly/MPDChiefSessions.

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